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ME AND MY TRACTOR – Marilyn Armstrong

You may have noticed the old tractor in the middle of our garden. When we were trying to sell the house years ago, a couple of potential buyers commented that they’d have to have it towed away.

I put a mental black mark next to their names because I love that tractor. If you don’t appreciate the tractor, you won’t like my house (they didn’t)

It’s a rusty 1928 Fordson. It was common farm equipment in its day. I loved it the moment I saw it, sitting on a lawn up the road a piece. I wanted it. I knew it didn’t run and never would, but for me, it was the perfect garden accessory.

Some people put flamingos in their garden (yes, I have a flamingo too). Deer. Ducks. Squirrels. I have some of them buried in weeds and flowers and I can only find the flamingo who is at least taller than the flowers and weeds. Around Halloween, anything goes and for Christmas — well — we’ve all seen the lengths to which some people will go.

One family just up the road from here has a crèche, a wishing well, several gnomes and a lighthouse almost large enough to use as a real lighthouse, except it is made of hollow and rather cheesy plastic. I believe they also have several types of small animals tucked between other statuary and geegaws. It’s a very busy garden and half the size of ours. Only careful landscaping has allowed them to fit quite so much bric-à-brac in such a small space.

This stuff’s not cheap. If you’ve ever gone and priced garden statuary, a nicely done piece — cement not plastic — can cost you as much as remodeling your kitchen. Well, almost as much. Okay, about half the price.

The tractor wasn’t cheap either. It was (is) a real tractor, not some phony doodad. Someone farmed using that piece of machinery. It was, in its day, a serious investment. So I don’t understand why someone would think a fake lighthouse looks cool while yearning for a bigger bogus wishing well, but find our antique tractor odd. Maybe they’d like it better if we’d bought it at Walmart?

Garry bought it for me as a tenth-anniversary gift. Now that is a husband who gets his wife. He knew to whom he is married.

Nineteen years later, I love my tractor more than ever. It has stood the test of time. In another 9-1/2 years, it will have its hundredth birthday. In its second life, we have planted around it and vines have grown over it. It is as much a part of the garden as the earth on which it stands.

Maybe, but there are some really great tractors today. However, they are wildly expensive. It’s a major investment, whether you are buying it for a farm or as a plow. They were pretty good back then and they didn’t cost your annual income.

You know, I DID wonder several times when you mentionnend your tractor, what went on in your head! Now I know 😉
I always thought it came with the house. But yesterday I saw something that gave me a shock here: I was on the search for the offices of my new, future doctor. I saw pretty, very pretty houses with wonderfully and lovingly cared for gardens. Little houses I never saw before (well, we didn’t exactly have loads of time to explore our new town, as we only had about 8 days before the curfew), and I stood still in front of quite a few of them.
Then, in the middle of one of the really generous plots with magnificent posh box in even posher pots, lovingly embraced by jute bindings so that the roots of the plants wouldn’t freeze in the new winter we experience right now, was sitting an old spin extractor, heavy, solid, with a unmovable base and a copper spin bowl… it was like, what we call, a fist on the eye…. To me, the whole beautiful Versailles-style ‘compo’ was spoilt….
As far as garden gnomes and other plastic stuff is concerned; they are a big no-no to me. But there is also a saying that If Kitsch is terrible enough, it takes a new Beauty! So, let’s be generous and NOT spoil somebody’s pride and joy with negative judgments.
What I REALLY love is that Garry truly IS your soulmate. Buying a tractor for his beloved wife is no small offering. I do hope he gets better soon – you never told us if Owen was able to fix his hearing aid… I just thought that having that piece maybe not working properly, really can get you ill!

Garden art takes on its own character — my friends in the desert have an English double-decker bus and an English phone booth iin their yard — and their friends have a caboose opposite their front door!

Making My Home A Haven is important to me. Sharing homemaking skills. Recipes and food. Bible Studies. This is a treasure chest of goodies. So take a seat. Have a glass of tea and enjoy. You will learn all about who I am and Our Neck Of The Woods.